With My Life
by MsLyoness
Summary: A Wine Warp/Mira quasi-romantic oneshot.


I know, I know, I need to write more of "Perspectives", but I'm having a slight writer's block where it's concerned. This little story is something totally out of the blue that probably won't make a lot of sense, as it's a random moment in between my planned trilogy.

No lasers or explosions here, people. That'll come in the trilogy. No naughty stuff, either (well, except for the word "sexy", which really isn't so bad compared to some fics I've read). There is, however, a tiny bit of swearing, which is why this is rated "Teen" to be safe.

Ooh, and this is a oneshot; I won't be writing more on this one, sorry!

"Hey." Silence. "Hey Mira." More silence. The man frowned, gazing down at her, and not liking what he saw. She was slumped down at the booth, head buried in her crossed arms. Her hair, usually pristine, was ruffled and unkempt, and she wore not her Ranger uniform, but casual clothes.

"Nova. C'mon, answer me."

Still, she didn't respond. He began to wonder if she'd passed out, but noticed that she was breathing. Getting annoyed now, he shook her shoulder. "Hey Princess, look at me already."

She did, lifting her head long enough to glare at him before dropping it back down. "You know I hate when you call me that," her muffled voice came floating up to him. He smirked, glad to have gotten a response.

"Well, Princess" – he slid into the booth across from her and ignored the angry glance she sent his way – "if you'd acknowledged me earlier, I wouldn't've had to resort to such tricks."

"Rot in hell, Darkmatter."

His eyebrows rose. "Did we have a bad day today?"

"'We'? There's no 'we' here. _You _spent the day tinkering with your little toys, while _I _spent it keeping a bevy of beauty queens safe."

He smirked again. "Would you rather our positions had been reversed? You coulda tested weapons, and I coulda spent my time with some of the loveliest ladies in the galaxy."

She raised her head again, and this time kept it up. "You'd've liked that, wouldn't you, Darkmatter?" she snapped.

"Ooh…_someone's_ jealous!" he teased. "You just can't stand the thought of me with – "

"Why would I care?" she hissed, her eyes flashing blue fire. "Date whoever you want to!!"

A little surprised at the vehemence of her words, he leaned back slightly and studied her. Only a very brave or very foolish man, he decided, would continue to push her.

So he did.

"C'mon, Mira. You know you like me."

"No, I don't! Not _that _way, anyway," she amended when she saw the fleeting look of hurt on his face. "I mean, yeah, I like you as a friend," she continued, getting a little embarrassed , "but no, not like…that."

"Of course."

The serious silence that followed unnerved both of them. To break it, he asked, "So…are you gonna eat those?" He gestured to the plate of half-eaten French fries in front of her.

"No," she admitted sheepishly. "Help yourself."

Another uncomfortable silence fell as he finished her order off, both of them missing the easy, if slightly adversarial, manner that they had begun the conversation with. She studied him as he chewed, his own gaze focused out the window. It wasn't fair, she thought sourly, that Warp Darkmatter seemed to always push her buttons; he had an unerring ability to use her weak spots against her. She was never really sure if he did it on purpose or if he was just lucky, but she rather thought it was the former. Bastard. Self-assured, confident, sexy bast –

"Um, why are you glaring at me like that?" he asked, a little surprised. He'd hoped she'd forgiven him his superior luck in assignments. She blushed, quickly glancing away and rearranging her features into a nonchalant expression.

"Was I glaring? Sorry, didn't mean to. I was just thinking about Buzz's stupid lecture yesterday."

He had no way of knowing how relieved he looked. So she wasn't mad at him. Good. It mattered what she thought, although one would've had to torture him long and hard for him to admit it, especially to her. Because, after all, she was a friend, nothing more. She'd said it herself, even though he'd been kinda hoping that –

Now it was her turn to look at him strangely. "Something wrong, Darkmatter?" she asked, slightly worried, big blue eyes wide.

It was the eyes, he later decided, that made him do what he did next. "Say, Nova…_Mira_…I noticed that we've both got next week off. D'you…maybe…uh..."

"You want a refill on that drink, hon?" A waitress had appeared beside the table.

"Sure," Mira sighed. After all, three glasses of Dr. Pepper weren't nearly enough to reenergize her after her ordeal with the "Miss Galaxy" contestants. The waitress smiled brightly as she refilled the redhead's glass, her gaze on Warp. "Anything for you, hon?" she asked, a faint flirty note in her voice. Mira frowned instinctively as Warp flashed a grin and placed his order.

Women _always_ flocked to him, and, well, it bothered her. Not, she hastened to remind herself, that she had any right to be bothered; her Ranger partner could, as she had said earlier, date whoever he wanted to.

Except, now that she thought about it, he didn't. She'd never once seen him with a girlfriend. He seemed to spend all his free time hassling Buzz, designing new technology, and with her. That, she supposed, was something, right? It was something to be his friend and partner in law enforcement. But, and she hated herself for admitting it, she wanted a little more.

It was stupid to think of it; after all, romantic relationships between partners were frowned upon, and…she didn't need it, really. She was fine on her own.

The waitress retreated, swaying her backside a little for Warp's benefit. It was a futile gesture, as his attention was fixed on the melancholy Tangean before him. "Hey, cheer up, Mira. I hear they're adding a new level to the training room, since you beat the last one so many times."

"Yeah." It was said without much enthusiasm. He raised his eyebrows and suddenly stood up, taking her arm and pulling her with him.

"What're you – "

"Okay, Nova, we're going."

"But what about your food?"

"Ah, who cares?"

Surprised, she let him lead her to the door and through it. She blinked, adjusting her eyes to the bright sunlight, as he towed her down the sidewalk towards the park. "What are you doing? Hey. Hey!"

He ignored her until they reached the park gates, noticing with satisfaction and a little surprise that she hadn't made any attempt to ghost out of his grip. Finally he let her go and faced her.

"Look, I know you've had a hard day, but I _know _you, and you're a little more depressed than you need to be."

"I am not," she shot back. He walked away a few paces, then turned back to look at her. "You _are_, and don't try to deny it."

Yet another uncomfortable silence.

"Did I do something, Mira? Did I bother you in some way?" he asked seriously, eyes never leaving her face.

"No. _Really_," she emphasized at his raised eyebrow. "You didn't do anything, Darkmatter."

He sighed, exasperated. "When are you going to learn that you can trust me? And stop calling me that. We're off-duty."

She studied the air over his shoulder, determined not to make eye contact unless absolutely necessary . "I trust you, Warp. With my life." The last part was said so quietly that he barely heard it.

"Look at me." She met his eyes, finding an unusual, almost soft light in them. "I trust you with mine too, Mira."

Her mouth quirked into a small yet genuine smile. "You'd better."

He laughed at that, then impulsively reached out and hugged her. Startled by the twin facts of the gesture and that she hugged him back, she nevertheless managed a happy, full-blown grin.

…Yeah. Not much of an ending, but I do have a definite plan for getting them together (and an explanation why Warp's back at Star Command) in the works.

And yes, Mira's assignment is intentionally similar to Grace Hart's in "Miss Congeniality" (which, by the way, is an awesome movie). As for Warp's weapons testing assignment, he always struck me as a pretty technologically-savvy guy.


End file.
